Joshua ( Y'hoshuʿa; , Yusha ʿ ibn Nūn), is a minor figure in the Pentateuch, figuring in the narrative of the spies (Num 13-14) and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua. According to the books Exodus, Numbers and Joshua, he became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses; his name was Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him Joshua, () the name by which he is commonly known; and he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus, and was probably the same age as Caleb, with whom he is occasionally associated.

He was one of the twelve spies of Israel sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. () After the death of Moses, he led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, and allocated the land to the tribes. According to conventional Bible chronology, Joshua lived between 1450–1370 BC, or sometime in the late Bronze Age.by to , Joshua died at the age of 110.

Joshua also holds a position of respect to Muslims. According to the Qur'an, he was, along with Caleb, one of the two believing spies whom Moses had sent to spy the land of Canaan. All Muslims also see Joshua as the leader of the Israelites, following the death of Moses. Although some Muslims see Joshua as a prophet, others view him not as prophet but as a saintly man and great leader.

Name

The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew language (sometimes ), "Yehoshua", meaning "Yahweh is salvation", (Jehovah is salvation) from the Hebrew root , "salvation", "to deliver/be liberated", or "to be victorious". The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea () - the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name ().

"Jesus" is the English of the Greek transliteration of "Yehoshua" via Aramaic. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word "Yehoshua" are rendered as "Ἰησοῦς" (Iēsoūs/Jesus), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic , "Yeshua" (, ).

==Narrative of Joshua==

Joshua and the Exodus

(d. 1883)]] As Moses' apprentice, Joshua was a major figure in the events of the Exodus. He accompanied Moses part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. () He was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore and report on the land of Canaan (), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report, a reward for which would be that only these two of the spies would enter the promised land ().

He was commander at their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim (), in which they were victorious.

According to , Moses appointed Joshua to succeed him as leader of the Israelites. The first part of the book of Joshua covers the period when he led the conquest of Canaan.

Conquest of Canaan

At the Jordan River, the waters parted, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea. The first battle after the crossing of the Jordan was the Battle of Jericho. Joshua led the destruction of Jericho, then moved on to Ai, a small neighboring city to the west. However, they were defeated with thirty-six Israelite deaths. The defeat was attributed to Achan taking an "accursed thing" from Jericho; and was followed by Achan and his family and animals being stoned to death to restore God's favor. Joshua then went to defeat Ai.

The Israelites faced an alliance of Amorite kings from Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. At Gibeon Joshua asked God to cause the sun and moon to stand still, so that he could finish the battle in daylight. This event is most notable because "there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel. () God also fought for the Israelites in this battle, for he hurled huge hailstones from the sky which killed more Canaanites than those which the Israelites slaughtered. From there on, Joshua was able to lead the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the land of Canaan.

Death

When he was "old and well advanced in years" Joshua convened the elders and chiefs of the Israelites and exhorted them to have no fellowship with the native population because it could lead them to be unfaithful to God. At a general assembly of the clans at Shechem, he took leave of the people, admonishing them to be loyal to their God, who had been so mightily manifested in the midst of them. As a witness of their promise to serve God, Joshua set up a great stone under an oak by the sanctuary of God. Soon afterward he died, at the age of 110, and was buried at Timnath Serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Joshua in Islamic history

Joshua is also revered in Islam, as a wise and just man at the time of Moses. Although some Muslims regard him as a prophet in his own right, others see him as a saintly man. As Joshua took the leadership of the Israelites after the time of Moses, his role as the first Judge can be paralleled with that of Abu Bakr (or, in Shia Islam, Ali) as the first Caliph after Muhammad.

Conquest of Canaan

In the Qur'anic account of the conquest of Canaan, Joshua (and Caleb) are mentioned, but not named, as two "God-fearing men", on whom God "had bestowed His grace"

Historicity

Joshua's narrative is ascribed to Joshua himself by Bava Batra 15a (Talmud) and early church fathers. In 1943 Martin Noth published an argument that behind Joshua and other books was a unified "Deuteronomistic history", composed in the early part of the Babylonian captivity (not long after 606 BCE); Noth's speculative practice of conjecturing the nonextant tradition has the weakness that "no two scholars ever propose the same tradition history for the stories of the Pentateuch". Most scholars who follow the documentary hypothesis today believe in some such composite, containing the epic history of the premonarchical period. Gerhard von Rad, another developer of the hypothesis, adds that "comparison of the ancient Near Eastern treaties, especially ... in the 14th and 13th centuries BC, with passages in the OT has revealed so many things in common between the two, particularly in the matter of form, that there must be some connection between these suzerainty treaties and the [OT]." Kenneth Kitchen states that nearly all treaties in this period follow the pattern of Deuteronomy closely, while first-millennium treaties contrarily but consistently place "witnesses" earlier and omit prologue and blessing sections, requiring classification of the Sinai covenant and its renewals in Joshua with the fourteenth or thirteenth century rather than the sixth.

Although Egypt did not have its former grasp on Canaan, there was a strong presence into the twelfth century, and Philistia took greater control of the southern coastal plain then also ( mentions the Philistines). The first record of the name Israel occurs in the Merneptah stele, erected for Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE, "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not." William Dever sees this "Israel" in the central highlands as a cultural and probably political entity, well enough established to be perceived by the Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony, but an ethnic group rather than an organised state. The number of villages in the highlands increased to more than 300 by the end of Iron Age I (more and larger in the north), with the settled population rising from 20,000 in the twelfth century to 40,000 in the eleventh. The villagers probably shared the highlands with other communities such as pastoral nomads, but only villagers left sufficient remains to determine their settlement patterns. Archaeologists and historians see more continuity than discontinuity between these highland settlements and the preceding Late Bronze Canaanite culture; certain features such as ceramic repertoire and agrarian settlement plans have been said to be distinctives of highland sites, and collar-rimmed jars and four-roomed houses have been said to be intrinsically "Israelite," but have also been said to belong to a commonly shared culture throughout Iron I Canaan. While some archaeologists interpret the absence of pig bones from the highland sites as an indicator of ethnicity, this is not certain. Villages had populations of up to 300 or 400, which lived by farming and herding and were largely self-sufficient; economic interchange was prevalent. Popular reviews of the Book of Joshua's sharp contrasts and internal conflicts arise from "an appreciable difference between defeating a king in battle, and gaining possession of his capital city" ( vs. , , , ); and because "the land was now within the grasp of the Israelites [but] they did not avail themselves fully of that dominion which was within their reach" (, , vs. , ). The question of the degrees of conquest and/or assimilation may not be answered with certainty, as both sides cite a large body of archaeological and other evidence.

Views

In rabbinical literature

In rabbinic Jewish literature Joshua is regarded as a faithful, humble, deserving, wise man. Biblical verses illustrative of these qualities and of their reward are applied to him. "He that waits on his master shall be honored" (Pro. xxvii. 18) is construed as a reference to Joshua (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xii.), as is also the first part of the same verse, "Whoso keepes the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof" (Midrash Yalk., Josh. 2; Numbers Rabbah xii. 21). That "honor shall uphold the humble in spirit" (Pro. xxix. 23) is proved by Joshua's victory over Amalek (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xiii). Not the sons of Moses — as Moses himself had expected — but Joshua was appointed successor to the son of Amram (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xii). Moses was shown how Joshua reproved that Othniel (Yalḳ., Num. 776). Joshua's manliness recommended him for this high post. David referred to him in Psalms lxxxvii. 25, though without mentioning the name, lest dissensions should arise between his sons and those of his brothers (Yalḳ., quoting Sifre).

In later literature

In the Divine Comedy Joshua's spirit appears to Dante in the Heaven of Mars, where he is grouped with the other "warriors of the faith."

Baroque composer Georg Frideric Handel composed an oratorio "Joshua" in 1747. Composer Franz Waxman composed an oratorio "Joshua" in 1959.

For a punning take on "Joshua, son of Nun," see the 1973 political thriller Joshua Son of None.

In the literary tradition of medieval Europe, Joshua is known as one of the Nine Worthies.

Joshua is a main protagonist in Matthew Woodring Stover's novel Jericho Moon.

Yahrtzeit

, April 2007]] The annual commemoration of Joshua's yahrtzeit is marked on the 26th of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. Thousands make the pilgrimage to Kifl Hares on the preceding night.

See also

Joshua Roll

Yehoshua

References

External links

at Wikisource.

The Book of Joshua, Douay Rheims Bible Version with annotations By Bishop Challoner

Book of Joshua at BibleGateway

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

Easton's Bible Dictionary & Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia

de Pury, Albert, Römer, Thomas, Macchi, Jean-Daniel "Israël constructs its history: Deuteronomistic historiography in recent research" (Sheffield Academic Press, 2000)

Garbini, G., "Myth and history in the bible" (Sheffield Academic Press, 2003)

Graham, M.P, and McKenzie, Steven L., "The Hebrew Bible today: an introduction to critical issues" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)

Killebrew, Ann E., "Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, and Early Israel, 1300-1100 BCE" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2005)

Coogan, Michael D. (ed), "The Oxford History of the Biblical World (Oxford University Press, 1998)

Oxford Bible Commentary (ed. John Barton, John Muddiman, Oxford University Press, 2001)

The biblical world, Volume 2, John Barton, Taylor & Francis, 2004.

Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible (ed. James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson, Eerdmans, 2003)

Day, John, "Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan" (Sheffield Academic Press, 2002)

Dever, William, "What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?" (Eerdmans, 2001)

Dever, William, "Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?" (Eerdmans, 2003, 2006)

Finkelstein, Israel; Mazar, Amihay; Schmidt, Brian B., "The Quest for the Historical Israel" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2007)

Brettler, Marc Zvi, "How to read the Bible" (Jewish Publication Society, 2005)

Joshua, an Introduction and Commentary, by Richard Hess, Inter-Varsity press (1996)

Category:15th-century BC Biblical rulers Category:Biblical characters in rabbinic literature Category:Book of Joshua Category:Culture heroes Category:Hebrew Bible people Category:Judges of ancient Israel Category:Moses Category:Old Testament saints Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Torah people

Name	Joshua Radin
Background	solo_singer
Origin	Shaker Heights, Ohio
Instrument	Acoustic guitar, Electric Guitar
Genre	Acoustic, folk
Occupation	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2004–present
Label	Mom & Pop Records
Url	JoshuaRadin.com

Joshua Radin is an American recording artist, songwriter and actor. He was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is of Swedish, German, Polish, Russian, and Austrian descent. He studied drawing and painting at Northwestern University, following his college years with stints as an art teacher, screenwriter, and art gallery employee. He turned to music when he moved to New York City, bought a guitar, and taught himself to play and write music. In 2004, American actor Zach Braff introduced Radin's first composition, "Winter," to Scrubs' show creator, Bill Lawrence, who ultimately used several of Radin's songs within various scenes of the hit television series. Soon after, Radin's songs were heard on TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, American Idol, One Tree Hill, among others. In total, Radin has amassed over 75 film and television placements.

Musical career

According to Radin his musical career started in 2004, and he had learned to play the guitar only two years before that. His first song, "Winter", appeared on his debut album "We Were Here".

We Were Here (2006)

Radin has said that much of the album was inspired by a bad break-up. It was released exclusively to iTunes for a month, before attracting attention from major labels. Released on Columbia Records in May 2006,Zach Braff hand-picked one of the tracks to be featured on the soundtrack for The Last Kiss.

Simple Times (2008)

Radin's second album, "Simple Times" went straight to #1 on the iTunes overall chart upon its release. Radin enlisted highly regarded producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck). The two spent seven weeks recording at L.A.'s legendary Sunset Sound Studio working with a cast of musicians that included guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Johnny Flaugher, keyboardist Jason Borger, drummer Victor Indrizzo and percussionist Lenny Castro. Among the album's many highlights are "You Got Growin' Up To Do," featuring guest vocalist Patty Griffin, lead single "I'd Rather Be With You" and "Brand New Day." Tracks from the album were featured on TV shows such as "Bones," "Scrubs," "House," "Grey's Anatomy," "One Tree Hill," "90210," "Brothers and Sisters" and "American Idol," among others.

The Rock and The Tide (2010)

Radin's third studio album, The Rock and The Tide was released on October 12, 2010 on Mom and Pop Records, his second release with the label. The album reached number five on the iTunes albums chart upon its release. "The Rock and The Tide" was produced by Martin Terefe (Cat Stevens, Ron Sexmith).

Television and Movies

Radin has amassed over 75 film and television placements of his songs in television and movies, The Fear You Won't Fall, The Rock and The Tide 8xTX on T4 - Winter, ABC Promo - Off The Map - Here We Go, We Are Okay, You Got What I Need, What If You,, Someone Else's Life, Bones (Double Trouble in the Panhandle) - No Envy, No Fear Grey's Anatomy – Closer, The Fear You Won't Fall, Sky, One Of Those Days, You Got What I Need,

Castle- No Envy, No Fear

Scrubs – Don't Look Away, These Photographs, Winter, Today, Closer, I'd Rather Be With You, Sesame Street Theme So You Think You Can Dance - Sundrenched World (Live Session), The Fear Your Wont Fall The Bachelorette (Season 6, Episode 4) - Brand New Day, Streetlight

Leverage (Season 1, Episode 2) - Winter.

Personal life

Radin also played his song "Today" along with five other songs for Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi at their 2008 wedding.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

EPs

# First Between 3rd and 4th (2004) # Live Session (iTunes Exclusive EP) (2006) # Unclear Sky (iTunes Exclusive EP) (2008) # ''Simple Times – Bonus Material (Demos) EP" (2009) # Songs Under a Streetlight - EP (2010)

References

External links

Joshua Radin’s official blog

Joshua Radin on MySpace

Review of One of Those Days at Daily Music Guide

;Video links

Joshua Radin – Winter, and other songs

Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:Living people Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:Songwriters from Ohio Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American acoustic guitarists Category:Folk rock musicians Category:American folk guitarists Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American people of Polish descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American people of Austrian descent Category:1974 births Category:American Jews Category:Jewish American musicians

Joshua Kadison (born February 8, 1963, Los Angeles, California) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and writer.

Early life

Joshua grew up in and around Los Angeles, California, the younger of two sons. His mother was of Mexican-American Indian descent. At age 12 he started playing the piano and subsequently started to write songs. After his mother died, when he was 15, he received his driver's license and left home (with the blessing of his father) to become a travelling troubadour. He later admitted that anger and confusion over his mother's death drove much of his songwriting during this time. He later wrote "Mama's Arms" about his pain over losing his mother as a teenager; it was featured on his first album, Painted Desert Serenade. He did the rounds of piano bars across the United States for the next decade. Eventually in the early 1990s he caught the attention of EMI and they signed him.

Career

According to an early press release by EMI, "His maverick ways paid off in 1993 when EMI released his self-penned debut Painted Desert Serenade, a collection of introspective story songs including the break-through single "Jessie" and "When a Woman Cries," already covered by legends Joe Cocker and Smokey Robinson. "I was so used to being outside of whatever was going on that I didn't even think I'd get a record deal, much less have my songs played on the radio." This, from the young man who received the BMI Award for one of the most played songs of 1994. His international hit "Beautiful in My Eyes" is often played at weddings and peaked at #19 in the U.S. Billboard charts. Painted Desert Serenade went platinum in the US and Germany, and went multi-platinum in Australia and New Zealand". According to The "Guinness book of British Hit Singles" both "Jessie" and "Beautiful In My Eyes" reached the UK Top 40 with Jessie spending 15 weeks in the UK Top 75 with the two releases of the song combined and the album reached number 45. "Jessie" is still often heard on UK radio.

His second album, Delilah Blue, was less commercially successful. (The single Take It On Faith failed to reach a high chart position.) His collection of songs were closer to sonic novels than the ballads featured in his first album; he used John Steinbeck's book "The Pearl" as inspiration for a song of the same name. The single Take it on Faith failed to reach the Billboard Top 10, and shortly after, EMI voided its contract with Kadison. The title track "Delilah Blue" was released as a single in Australia.

In 1998, he published his book 17 Ways To Eat A Mango: A Discovered Journal of Life on an Island of Miracles and the 5-track-album Saturday Night In Storyville on his own label Storyville Records, selling it predominantly from his website. It was well received in Germany, where he continues to have a huge following. In 1999 he released another album via his website called Troubador In A Timequake, which was the first CD to include "My Father's Son." He is quoted to have said that it was a song written about his father, Ellis Kadison, who had recently died.

Shortly after, he signed a new deal with EMI Germany and his album Vanishing America was released. The album, released in May 2001, dealt with his disillusionment with the lost values of America. The album was a collection of songs that told stories about people not realizing their own beauty and full potential. Ironically, the album was never distributed in the United States. The album also included two selections previously used on his late 90's albums, "My Father's Son" and "Cherry Bowl Drive-In" and a solo version of "Dragonfly Queen," re-titled "Begging For Grace."

In 2005, Kadison relaunched his career on his self-run website "Radio Humanity." He later bought back his previous website address and re-launched it. The Venice Beach Sessions was released as a download-only album in two parts, including a selection titled "Over The Sad Songs;" this was thought to be inspired by his recently dissolved relationship.

In 2006, EMI released Essential a collection which included tracks from all three full-length studio albums and three additional selections that had formerly been B-sides.

In 2007 Joshua continued to update his website with regular letters and toured Germany in the Spring.

In 2008 Joshua released the download-only album Return Of The Dragonfly and toured Germany again. During the tour he announced that he would no longer be performing his older songs and would dedicate his time to studying the bansuri, a simple seven-hole bamboo flute.

Wherever possible at his concerts, he allows audience members to sit on the stage; this is evidenced by various videos on YouTube. He also has a "requests" and "q and a" sessions at the end.

Personal life

In 2004, Kadison came out as being bisexual on his personal website, at which time he also stated he had recently left a long term relationship.

Discography

1993: Painted Desert Serenade

1995: Delilah Blue

1998: Saturday Night In Storyville

1999: Troubadour In A Timequake

2001: Vanishing America

2005: The Venice Beach Sessions - Part 1

2006: The Venice Beach Sessions - Part 2

2008: Return Of The Dragonfly

Book

17 Ways To Eat A Mango: A Discovered Journal of Life on an Island of Miracles, Hyperion, New York 1999. ISBN 0-7868-6457-5

References

External links

Official website

Official myspace page

Category:1963 births Category:American pop singers Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American pop pianists Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Living people Category:American musicians of Mexican descent

Name	Joshua Bell
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	December 09, 1967
Origin	Bloomington, Indiana, United States
Instrument	Violin
Genre	Classical music
Occupation	Violinist
Years active	1980s–present
Url	http://www.joshuabell.com/
Notable instruments	Gibson Stradivarius

Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.

Childhood

Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P. Bell, Professor Emeritus of Indiana University, in Bloomington, a former Kinsey researcher.

Bell began taking violin lessons at the age of four after his mother discovered her son had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his dresser drawer to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. His parents got a scaled-to-size violin for their then five-year-old son and started giving him lessons. A bright student, Bell took to the instrument but lived an otherwise normal midwest Indiana life playing video games and excelling at sports, namely tennis and bowling, even placing in a national tennis tournament at the age of ten.

Bell studied as a boy first under Donna Bricht, widow of Indiana University music faculty member Walter Bricht. His second teacher was Mimi Zweig, and then he switched to the violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold after Bell's parents assured Gingold that they were not interested in pushing their son in the study of the violin but simply wanted him to have the best teacher for his abilities. Satisfied that the boy was living a normal life, Gingold took Bell on as his student. By age 12, Bell was serious about the instrument, thanks in large part to Gingold's inspiration.

At the age of 14, Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He studied the violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, while managing to graduate from Bloomington High School North in 1984, In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from Indiana University. His alma mater also honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Service Award only two years after his graduation. He has been named an “Indiana Living Legend” and received the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award.

Career

at Indiana University in February 2008]] Joshua Bell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has since performed with almost all of the world's major orchestras and conductors. As well as the standard concerto repertoire, Bell has performed new works — Nicholas Maw's violin concerto is dedicated to him, the recording of which won Bell a Grammy and gave the world premiere of the work in 1993. He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film The Red Violin and was also featured in Ladies in Lavender. Bell also made an appearance in the movie Music of the Heart, a story about the power of music, with other notable violinists.

Bell's instrument is a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713 during what is known as Antonio Stradivari's "Golden Era." This violin had been stolen twice from the previous owner, Bronisław Huberman; the last time the thief confessed to the act on his deathbed.

Bell was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize on April 10, 2007, at Lincoln Center in New York City. The prize is given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement. On May 3, 2007, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music announced that Bell had joined the faculty as a senior lecturer.

Bell collaborated with film composer Hans Zimmer by providing violin solos for the soundtrack for the 2009 film, Angels and Demons, based on Dan Brown's 2000 novel of the same name.

Washington Post Experiment

In a curious experiment initiated by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, Bell donned a baseball cap and played as an incognito street busker at the Metro subway station L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2007. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; among 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him). Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his article on the experiment.

Personal life

Bell resides in Gramercy Park, Manhattan.

Bell identifies himself as Agnostic, although he also identifies as a "cultural Jew" for the public's sake.

Selected discography

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Album !Billboard Classical !Billboard 200 |- |1988 |Bruch Mendelssohn Violin Concertos, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1989 |Fauve Debussy Franck Violin Sonatas with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Decca Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1990 |Presenting Joshua Bell, Polygram Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1991 |Chausson Concerto, Ravel Piano Trio, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1992 |''Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto #3 /Chausson: Poeme, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1995 |Prokofiev: Violin Concertos & Sonatas, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1995 |Brahms /Schumann Violin Concertos, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1996 |The Kreisler Album, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1997 |Barber / Walton/ Bloch Violin Concertos, Decca Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1997 |Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2, London Records |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1999 |Nicholas Maw Violin Concertos, Sony Classical |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |1999 |Gershwin Fantasy, Sony Classical |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |2000 |Jean Sibelius & Karl Goldmark: Violin Concertos, Sony Classical |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |2000 |Short Trip Home, with Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, Mike Marshall, Sony Classical |align="center"|7 |align="center"|— |- |2001 |Leonard Bernstein West Side Story Suite, Sony Classical |align="center"|3 |align="center"|— |- |2002 |Ludwig van Beethoven & Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos, Sony Classical |align="center"|18 |align="center"|— |- |2004 |Romance of the Violin, Sony Classical |align="center"|2 |align="center"|176 |- |2005 |Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Op. 35; Melodie; Danse Russe from Swan Lake (Act III), Sony Classical |align="center"|9 |align="center"|— |- |2006 |Voice of the Violin, Sony |align="center"|2 |align="center"|— |- |2007 | Corigliano The Red Violin, Sony |align="center"|7 |align="center"|— |- |2007 |The Essential Joshual Bell, Sony BMG Masterworks |align="center"|19 |align="center"|— |- |2008 |Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Sony BMG Masterworks |align="center"|1 |align="center"|134 |- |2009 |The Best of Joshua Bell, Sony BMG Masterworks |align="center"|12 |align="center"|— |- |2009 |At Home with Friends, Sony BMG Masterworks |align="center"|1 |align="center"|118 |}

Soundtrack Albums

Angels & Demons Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2009

: Joshua Bell, featured violinist

: Music composed by Hans Zimmer

Defiance'' OST, 2008

Ladies in Lavender Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2005: Joshua Bell, featured violinist

References

External links

Official Website

"Bell Man", by Mandy Katz; in-depth profile in moment magazine

Interview on The Diane Rehm Show radio program

Recording of Bell's performance in L'Enfant Plaza.

[ http://www.mlfilms.com/productions/bach_project | BACH & friends Documentary]

Category:1967 births Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:American classical violinists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Indiana University alumni Category:Indiana University faculty Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish violinists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People from Bloomington, Indiana Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music

Name	Miles Dewey Davis
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Miles Dewey Davis III
Birth date	May 26, 1926
Birth place	Alton, Illinois, United States
Death date	September 28, 1991
Death place	Santa Monica, California,United States
Instrument	Trumpet, flugelhorn, piano, organ, vocals
Genre	Jazz, hard bop, bebop, cool jazz, modal, fusion, third stream, jazz-funk jazz rap
Occupation	Bandleader, composer, trumpeter, artist
Years active	1944–1975, 1980–1991
Spouse	Frances Munkissa Poopissa Davis
Associated acts	Billy Eckstine, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis Quintet, Gil Evans
Url	www.milesdavis.com

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.

Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion. Many well-known musicians rose to prominence as members of Davis' ensembles, including saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, George Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Dave Liebman, Branford Marsalis and Kenny Garrett; trombonist J. J. Johnson; pianists Horace Silver, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett; guitarists John McLaughlin, Pete Cosey, John Scofield and Mike Stern; bassists Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Marcus Miller and Darryl Jones; and drummers Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, and Al Foster.

On October 7, 2008, his album Kind of Blue, released in 1959, received its fourth platinum certification from the RIAA, signifying sales of 4 million copies. Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

On November 5, 2009, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan sponsored a measure in the US House of Representatives to recognize and commemorate the album Kind of Blue on its 50th anniversary. The measure also affirms jazz as a national treasure and "encourages the United States government to preserve and advance the art form of jazz music." It passed, unanimously, with a vote of 409–0 on December 15, 2009.

Biography

Early life (1926–44)

Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926, to an affluent African American family in Alton, Illinois. His father, Dr. Miles Henry Davis, was a dentist. In 1927 the family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois. They also owned a substantial ranch in northern Arkansas, where Davis learned to ride horses as a boy.

Davis' mother, Cleota Mae (Henry) Davis, wanted her son to learn the piano; she was a capable blues pianist but kept this fact hidden from her son. His musical studies began at 13, when his father gave him a trumpet and arranged lessons with local musician Elwood Buchanan. Davis later suggested that his father's instrument choice was made largely to irk his wife, who disliked the trumpet's sound. Against the fashion of the time, Buchanan stressed the importance of playing without vibrato; he was reported to have slapped Davis' knuckles every time he started using heavy vibrato. Davis would carry his clear signature tone throughout his career. He once remarked on its importance to him, saying, "I prefer a round sound with no attitude in it, like a round voice with not too much tremolo and not too much bass. Just right in the middle. If I can’t get that sound I can’t play anything." Clark Terry was another important early influence.

By age 16, Davis was a member of the music society and playing professionally when not at school. At 17, he spent a year playing in Eddie Randle's band, the Blue Devils. During this time, Sonny Stitt tried to persuade him to join the Tiny Bradshaw band, then passing through town, but Davis' mother insisted that he finish his final year of high school.

In 1944, the Billy Eckstine band visited East St. Louis. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were members of the band, and Davis was brought in on third trumpet for a couple of weeks because the regular player, Buddy Anderson, was out sick. Even after this experience, once Eckstine's band left town, Davis' parents were still keen for him to continue formal academic studies.

New York and the bebop years begin (1944–48)

, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Max Roach, ca. August 1947]]

In the fall of 1944, following graduation from high school, Davis moved to New York City to study at the Juilliard School of Music.

Upon arriving in New York, he spent most of his first weeks in town trying to get in contact with Charlie Parker, despite being advised against doing so by several people he met during his quest, including saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. In these early years, recording sessions where Davis was the leader were the exception rather than the rule; his next date as leader would not come until 1947.

Around 1945, Dizzy Gillespie parted ways with Parker, and Davis was hired as Gillespie's replacement in his quintet, which also featured Max Roach on drums, Al Haig (replaced later by Sir Charles Thompson and Duke Jordan) on piano, and Curley Russell (later replaced by Tommy Potter and Leonard Gaskin) on bass. and Miles Davis, ca. September 1947]]

With Parker's quintet, Davis went into the studio several times, already showing hints of the style for which he would become known. On an oft-quoted take of Parker's signature song, "Now's the Time", Davis takes a melodic solo, whose unbop-like quality anticipates the "cool jazz" period that would follow. The Parker quintet also toured widely. During a stop in Los Angeles, Parker had a nervous breakdown that landed him in the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for several months, and Davis found himself stranded. He roomed and collaborated for some time with bassist Charles Mingus, before getting a job on Billy Eckstine's California tour, which eventually brought him back to New York. In 1948, Parker returned to New York, and Davis rejoined his group. and Brick Fleagle, ca. September 1947]]

The relationships within the quintet, however, were growing tense. Parker's erratic behavior (attributable to his well-known drug addiction) and artistic choices (both Davis and Roach objected to having Duke Jordan as a pianist so much so that it soon became "his project". The objective was to achieve a sound similar to the human voice, through carefully arranged compositions and by emphasizing a relaxed, melodic approach to the improvisations.

The nonet debuted in the summer of 1948, with a two-week engagement at the Royal Roost. The sign announcing the performance gave a surprising prominence to the role of the arrangers: "Miles Davis Nonet. Arrangements by Gil Evans, John Lewis and Gerry Mulligan". It was, in fact, so unusual that Davis had to persuade the Roost's manager, Ralph Watkins, to allow the sign to be worded in this way; he prevailed only with the help of Monte Kay, the club's artistic director.

The nonet was active until the end of 1949, along the way undergoing several changes in personnel: Roach and Davis were constantly featured, along with Mulligan, tuba player Bill Barber, and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, who had been preferred to Sonny Stitt (whose playing was considered too bop-oriented). Over the months, John Lewis alternated with Al Haig on piano, Mike Zwerin with Kai Winding on trombone (Johnson was touring at the time), Junior Collins with Sandy Siegelstein and Gunther Schuller on French horn, and Al McKibbon with Joe Shulman on bass. Singer Kenny Hagood was added for one track during the recording sessions.

The presence of white musicians in the group angered some African American jazz players, many of whom were unemployed at the time, but Davis rebuffed their criticisms.

A contract with Capitol Records granted the nonet several recording sessions between January 1949 and April 1950. The material they recorded was released in 1956 on an album whose title, Birth of the Cool, gave its name to the "cool jazz" movement that developed at the same time and partly shared the musical direction begun by Davis' group.

For his part, Davis was fully aware of the importance of the project, which he pursued to the point of turning down a job with Duke Ellington's orchestra. By 1953, his drug addiction was beginning to impair his ability to perform. Heroin had killed some of his friends (Navarro and Freddie Webster). He himself had been arrested for drug possession while on tour in Los Angeles, and his drug habit had been made public in a devastating interview that Cab Calloway gave to Down Beat.

Realizing his precarious condition, Davis tried several times to end his drug addiction, finally succeeding in 1954 after returning to his father's home in St. Louis for several months and literally locking himself in a room until he had gone through a painful withdrawal. During this period he avoided New York and played mostly in Detroit and other midwestern towns, where drugs were then harder to come by.

Despite all the personal turmoil, the 1950–54 period was actually quite fruitful for Davis artistically. He made quite a number of recordings and had several collaborations with other important musicians. He got to know the music of Chicago pianist Ahmad Jamal, whose elegant approach and use of space influenced him deeply. He also definitively severed his stylistic ties with bebop.

In 1951, Davis met Bob Weinstock, the owner of Prestige Records, and signed a contract with the label. Between 1951 and 1954, he released many records on Prestige, with several different combos. While the personnel of the recordings varied, the lineup often featured Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey. Davis was particularly fond of Rollins and tried several times, in the years that preceded his meeting with John Coltrane, to recruit him for a regular group. He never succeeded, however, mostly because Rollins was prone to make himself unavailable for months at a time. In spite of the casual occasions that generated these recordings, their quality is almost always quite high, and they document the evolution of Davis' style and sound. During this time he began using the Harmon mute, held close to the microphone, in a way that grew to be his signature, and his phrasing, especially in ballads, became spacious, melodic, and relaxed. This sound was to become so characteristic that the use of the Harmon mute by any jazz trumpet player since immediately conjures up Miles Davis.

The most important Prestige recordings of this period (Dig, Blue Haze, Bags' Groove, Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, and Walkin') originated mostly from recording sessions in 1951 and 1954, after Davis' recovery from his addiction. Also of importance are his five Blue Note recordings, collected in the Miles Davis Volume 1 album.

With these recordings, Davis assumed a central position in what is known as hard bop. In contrast with bebop, hard bop used slower tempos and a less radical approach to harmony and melody, often adopting popular tunes and standards from the American songbook as starting points for improvisation. Hard bop also distanced itself from cool jazz by virtue of a harder beat and by its constant reference to the blues, both in its traditional form and in the form made popular by rhythm and blues. A few critics

The "nocturnal" quality of Davis' playing and his somber reputation, along with his whispering voice, earned him the lasting moniker of "prince of darkness", adding a patina of mystery to his public persona.

First great quintet and sextet (1955–58)

Back in New York and in better health, in 1955 Davis attended the Newport Jazz Festival, where his performance (and especially his solo on "'Round Midnight") was greatly admired and prompted the critics to hail the "return of Miles Davis". At the same time, Davis recruited the players for a formation that became known as his "first great quintet": John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

None of these musicians, with the exception of Davis, had received a great deal of exposure before that time; Chambers, in particular, was very young (19 at the time), a Detroit player who had been on the New York scene for only about a year, working with the bands of Bennie Green, Paul Quinichette, George Wallington, J. J. Johnson, and Kai Winding. Coltrane was little known at the time, in spite of earlier collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic, and Johnny Hodges. Davis hired Coltrane as a replacement for Sonny Rollins, after unsuccessfully trying to recruit Cannonball Adderley.

The repertoire included many bebop mainstays, standards from the Great American Songbook and the pre-bop era, and some traditional tunes. The prevailing style of the group was a development of the Davis experience in the previous years—Davis playing long, legato, and essentially melodic lines, while Coltrane, who during these years emerged as a leading figure on the musical scene, contrasted by playing high-energy solos.

With the new formation also came a new recording contract. In Newport, Davis had met Columbia Records producer George Avakian, who persuaded him to sign with his label. The quintet made its debut on record with the extremely well received 'Round About Midnight. Before leaving Prestige, however, Davis had to fulfill his obligations during two days of recording sessions in 1956. Prestige released these recordings in the following years as four albums: Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. While the recording took place in a studio, each record of this series has the structure and feel of a live performance, with several first takes on each album. The records became almost instant classics and were instrumental in establishing Davis' quintet as one of the best on the jazz scene.

The quintet was disbanded for the first time in 1957, following a series of personal problems that Davis blames on the drug addiction of the other musicians. Davis played some gigs at the Cafe Bohemia with a short-lived formation that included Sonny Rollins and drummer Art Taylor, and then traveled to France, where he recorded the score to Louis Malle's film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. With the aid of French session musicians Barney Wilen, Pierre Michelot, and René Urtreger, and American drummer Kenny Clarke, he recorded the entire soundtrack with an innovative procedure, without relying on written material: starting from sparse indication of the harmony and a general feel of a given piece, the group played by watching the movie on a screen in front of them and improvising.

Returning to New York in 1958, Davis recruited alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Coltrane, who in the meantime had freed himself from his drug habits, was available after a highly fruitful experience with Thelonious Monk and was hired back, as was Philly Joe Jones. With the quintet re-formed as a sextet, Davis recorded Milestones, an album anticipating the new directions he was preparing to give to his music.

Almost immediately after the recording of Milestones, Davis fired Garland and, shortly afterward, Jones, again for behavioral problems; he replaced them with Bill Evans—a young white pianist with a strong classical background—and drummer Jimmy Cobb. With this revamped formation, Davis began a year during which the sextet performed and toured extensively and produced a record (1958 Miles, also known as 58 Sessions). Evans had a unique, impressionistic approach to the piano, and his musical ideas had a strong influence on Davis. But after only eight months on the road with the group, he was burned out and left. He was soon replaced by Wynton Kelly, a player who brought to the sextet a swinging, bluesy approach that contrasted with Evans' more delicate playing.

Recordings with Gil Evans (1957–63)

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Davis recorded a series of albums with Gil Evans, often playing flugelhorn as well as trumpet. The first, Miles Ahead (1957), showcased his playing with a jazz big band and a horn section arranged by Evans. Songs included Dave Brubeck's "The Duke," as well as Léo Delibes's "The Maids of Cadiz," the first piece of European classical music Davis had recorded. Another distinctive feature of the album was the orchestral passages that Evans had devised as transitions between the different tracks, which were joined together with the innovative use of editing in the post-production phase, turning each side of the album into a seamless piece of music.

In 1958, Davis and Evans were back in the studio to record Porgy and Bess, an arrangement of pieces from George Gershwin's opera of the same name. The lineup included three members of the sextet: Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Davis called the album one of his favorites.

Sketches of Spain (1959–1960) featured songs by contemporary Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo and also Manuel de Falla, as well as Gil Evans originals with a Spanish flavor. Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (1961) includes Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, along with other compositions recorded in concert with an orchestra under Evans' direction.

Sessions with Davis and Evans in 1962 resulted in the album Quiet Nights, a short collection of bossa novas that was released against the wishes of both artists: Evans stated it was only half an album, and blamed the record company; Davis blamed producer Teo Macero, whom he didn't speak to for more than two years. This was the last time Evans and Davis made a full album together; despite the professional separation, however, Davis noted later that "my best friend is Gil Evans."

Kind of Blue (1959–64)

In March and April 1959, Davis re-entered the studio with his working sextet to record what is widely considered his magnum opus, Kind of Blue. He called back Bill Evans, months away from forming what would become his own seminal trio, for the album sessions, as the music had been planned around Evans' piano style. Both Davis and Evans were personally acquainted with the ideas of pianist George Russell regarding modal jazz, Davis from discussions with Russell and others before the Birth of the Cool sessions, and Evans from study with Russell in 1956. Davis, however, had neglected to inform current pianist Kelly of Evans' role in the recordings; Kelly subsequently played only on the track "Freddie Freeloader" and was not present at the April dates for the album. "So What" and "All Blues" had been played by the sextet at performances prior to the recording sessions, but for the other three compositions, Davis and Evans prepared skeletal harmonic frameworks that the other musicians saw for the first time on the day of recording, to allow a fresher approach to their improvisations. The resulting album has proven to be both highly popular and enormously influential. According to the RIAA, Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time, having been certified as quadruple platinum (4 million copies sold). In December 2009, the US House of Representatives voted 409–0 to pass a resolution honoring the album as a national treasure.

The trumpet Davis used on the recording is currently displayed in the music building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was donated to the school by Arthur "Buddy" Gist, who met Davis in 1949 and became a close friend. The gift was the reason why the jazz program at UNCG is named the "Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program."

In 1959, the Miles Davis Quintet was appearing at the famous Birdland nightclub in New York City. After finishing a 27 minute recording for the armed services, Davis took a break outside the club. As he was escorting an attractive blonde woman across the sidewalk to a taxi, Davis was told by Patrolman Gerald Kilduff to "move on." The officer said that he would arrest Davis and grabbed him as Davis protected himself. Witnesses said that Kilduff punched Davis in the stomach with his nightstick without provocation. many of whom he met through Betty Mabry (later Betty Davis), a young model and songwriter Davis married in September 1968 and divorced a year later. The musical transition required that Davis and his band adapt to electric instruments in both live performances and the studio.

By the time In a Silent Way had been recorded in February 1969, Davis had augmented his quintet with additional players. At various times Hancock or Joe Zawinul was brought in to join Corea on electric keyboards, and guitarist John McLaughlin made the first of his many appearances with Davis. By this point, Shorter was also doubling on soprano saxophone. After recording this album, Williams left to form his group Lifetime and was replaced by Jack DeJohnette.

Six months later an even larger group of musicians, including Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira, and Bennie Maupin, recorded the double LP Bitches Brew, which became a huge seller, reaching gold status by 1976. This album and In a Silent Way were among the first fusions of jazz and rock that were commercially successful, building on the groundwork laid by Charles Lloyd, Larry Coryell, and others who pioneered a genre that would become known as jazz-rock fusion.

During this period, Davis toured with Shorter, Corea, Holland, and DeJohnette. The group's repertoire included material from Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and the 1960s quintet albums, along with an occasional standard.

In 1972, Davis was introduced to the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen by Paul Buckmaster, leading to a period of new creative exploration. Biographer J. K. Chambers wrote that "the effect of Davis' study of Stockhausen could not be repressed for long. . . . Davis' own 'space music' shows Stockhausen's influence compositionally." His recordings and performances during this period were described as "space music" by fans, by music critic Leonard Feather, and by Buckmaster, who described it as "a lot of mood changes—heavy, dark, intense—definitely space music."

Both Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way feature "extended" (more than 20 minutes each) compositions that were never actually "played straight through" by the musicians in the studio. Instead, Davis and producer Teo Macero selected musical motifs of various lengths from recorded extended improvisations and edited them together into a musical whole that exists only in the recorded version. Bitches Brew made use of such electronic effects as multi-tracking, tape loops, and other editing techniques. Both records, especially Bitches Brew, proved to be big sellers.

Starting with Bitches Brew, Davis' albums began to often feature cover art much more in line with psychedelic art or black power movements than that of his earlier albums. He took significant cuts in his usual performing fees in order to open for rock groups like the Steve Miller Band, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, and Santana. Several live albums were recorded during the early 1970s at these performances: (March 1970), (April 1970), and (June 1970).

You're Under Arrest also proved to be Davis' final album for Columbia. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis publicly dismissed Davis' more recent fusion recordings as not being "'true' jazz", comments Davis initially shrugged off, calling Marsalis "a nice young man, only confused". This changed after Marsalis appeared, unannounced, onstage in the midst of a Davis performance. Marsalis whispered into Davis' ear that "someone" had told him to do so; Davis responded by ordering him off the stage.

Davis grew irritated at Columbia's delay releasing Aura. The breaking point in the label-artist relationship appears to have come when a Columbia jazz producer requested Davis place a goodwill birthday call to Marsalis. Davis signed with Warner Brothers shortly thereafter.

Davis collaborated with a number of figures from the British new wave movement during this period, including Scritti Politti. At the invitation of producer Bill Laswell, Davis recorded some trumpet parts during sessions for Public Image Ltd.'s Album, according to Public Image's John Lydon in the liner notes of their Plastic Box box set. In Lydon's words, however, "strangely enough, we didn't use (his contributions)." (Also according to Lydon in the Plastic Box notes, Davis favorably compared Lydon's singing voice to his trumpet sound.)

Having first taken part in the Artists United Against Apartheid recording, Davis signed with Warner Brothers records and reunited with Marcus Miller. The resulting record, Tutu (1986), would be his first to use modern studio tools—programmed synthesizers, samples and drum loops—to create an entirely new setting for Davis' playing. Ecstatically reviewed on its release, the album would frequently be described as the modern counterpart of Sketches of Spain and won a Grammy in 1987.

He followed Tutu with Amandla, another collaboration with Miller and George Duke, plus the soundtracks to four movies: Street Smart, Siesta, The Hot Spot, and Dingo. He continued to tour with a band of constantly rotating personnel and a critical stock at a level higher than it had been for 15 years. His last recordings, both released posthumously, were the hip hop-influenced studio album Doo-Bop and Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux, a collaboration with Quincy Jones for the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival in which Davis performed the repertoire from his 1940s and 1950s recordings for the first time in decades.

In 1988 he had a small part as a street musician in the film Scrooged, starring Bill Murray. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. In 1989, Miles was interviewed on 60 Minutes by Harry Reasoner.

In early 1991, he appeared in the Rolf de Heer film Dingo as a jazz musician. In the film's opening sequence, Davis and his band unexpectedly land on a remote airstrip in the Australian outback and proceed to perform for the stunned locals. The performance was one of Davis' last on film.

Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991 from a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65.

Legacy and influence

, Poland]] Miles Davis is regarded as one of the most innovative, influential and respected figures in the history of music. He has been described as “one of the great innovators in jazz”. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll noted "Miles Davis played a crucial and inevitably controversial role in every major development in jazz since the mid-'40s, and no other jazz musician has had so profound an effect on rock. Miles Davis was the most widely recognized jazz musician of his era, an outspoken social critic and an arbiter of style—in attitude and fashion—as well as music". His album Kind of Blue is the best-selling album in the history of jazz music and was praised by the United States House of Representatives to "pass a symbolic resolution honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure."

As an innovative bandleader and composer, Miles Davis has influenced many notable musicians and bands from diverse genres. These include Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Cassandra Wilson, Lalo Schifrin, Tangerine Dream, Brand X, Mtume, Benny Bailey, Joe Bonner, Don Cherry, Urszula Dudziak, Sugizo, Bill Evans, Bill Hardman, The Lounge Lizards, Hugh Masekela, John McLaughlin, King Crimson, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Duane Allman, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Lydia Lunch, Talk Talk, Michael Franks, Sting, Lonnie Liston Smith, Jiří Stivín, Tim Hagans, Julie Christensen, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Vassar Clements, Snooky Young, Prince, and Christian Scott.

Miles' influence on the people who played with him has been described by music writer and author Christopher Smith as follows:

Miles Davis' artistic interest was in the creation and manipulation of ritual space, in which gestures could be endowed with symbolic power sufficient to form a functional communicative, and hence musical, vocabulary. [...] Miles' performance tradition emphasized orality and the transmission of information and artistic insight from individual to individual. His position in that tradition, and his personality, talents, and artistic interests, impelled him to pursue a uniquely individual solution to the problems and the experiential possibilities of improvised performance.

His approach, owing largely to the African American performance tradition that focused on individual expression, emphatic interaction, and creative response to shifting contents, had a profound impact on generations of jazz musicians.

In 1986, the New England Conservatory awarded Miles Davis an Honorary Doctorate for his extraordinary contributions to music. Since 1960 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) has honored him with eight Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and three Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.

In a 2006 survey of people between 10 and 49 years of age in Japan, Oricon Style found "My Funny Valentine" by Davis to be the fifth most popular Valentine's Day song in Japan.

Awards

Winner; Down Beat Reader's Poll Best Trumpet Player 1955

Winner; Down Beat Reader's Poll Best Trumpet Player 1957

Winner; Down Beat Reader's Poll Best Trumpet Player 1961

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Composition Of More Than Five Minutes Duration for Sketches of Spain (1960)

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group for Bitches Brew (1970)

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist for We Want Miles (1982)

Sonning Award for Lifetime Achievement In Music (1984; Copenhagen, Denmark)

Doctor of Music, honoris causa (1986; New England Conservatory)

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist for Tutu (1986)

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist for Aura (1989)

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band for Aura (1989)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990)

Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music Score for Dingo, shared with Michel Legrand (1991)

Knighted into the Legion of Honor (July 16, 1991; Paris)

Grammy Award for Best R&B; Instrumental Performance for Doo-Bop (1992)

Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance for Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux (1993)

Hollywood Walk of Fame Star (February 19, 1998)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction (March 13, 2006)

Hollywood's Rockwalk Induction (September 28, 2006)

RIAA Quadruple Platinum for Kind of Blue

St. Louis Walk of Fame

Discography

Sidemen

; Rhythm section

1950: pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon, drummer Max Roach

1951: pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Tommy Potter, drummer Art Blakey

1956: pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Art Taylor

1955–58: pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Philly Joe Jones

1959–63: pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb

1963–68: pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Tony Williams

1968–70: pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, drummer Tony Williams

1971: pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Airto Moreira

1969–72: pianists Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Larry Young, Harold Williams, Hermeto Pascoal, Lonnie Liston Smith, Cedric Lawson

1970s: guitarists John McLaughlin, Reggie Lucas, Pete Cosey, David Creamer, Dominique Gaumont, Cornell Dupree

Notes

References

Carr, Ian. Miles Davis. ISBN 0-00-653026-5.

Chambers, Jack. Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis. ISBN 0-306-80849-8.

Cole, George. The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis 1980–1991. ISBN 1-904768-18-0.

Cook, Richard (2007). "It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record". Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195322668

Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton. Entry "Miles Davis" in Penguin Guide to Jazz, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-017949-6.

Davis, Miles & Troupe, Quincy. Miles: The Autobiography. ISBN 0-671-63504-2.

Davis, Gregory. Dark Magus: The Jekyll & Hyde Life of Miles Davis. ISBN 978-0-87930-875-9.

Early, Gerald. Miles Davis and American Culture. ISBN 1-883982-37-5 cloth, ISBN 1-883982-38-3, paper.

Szwed, John. So What: The Life of Miles Davis. ISBN 0-434-00759-5.

Tingen, Paul. Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967–1991. ISBN 0-8230-8360-8.

Mandel, Howard (2007). "Miles, Ornette, Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz". Routledge. ISBN 0415967147.

External links

Web sites dedicated to Miles Davis:

Miles Davis – official website.

Miles Davis – official Sony Music website.

Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:Songwriters from Illinois Category:Bebop trumpeters Category:Cool jazz trumpeters Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Deaths from respiratory failure Category:People with sickle-cell disease Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Prestige Records artists Category:Savoy Records artists Category:Hard bop trumpeters Category:Musicians from Illinois Category:Juilliard School of Music alumni * Category:Modal jazz trumpeters Category:People from Madison County, Illinois Category:People from St. Clair County, Illinois Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Music of St. Louis, Missouri Category:Third Stream trumpeters Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (The Bronx) Category:Infectious disease deaths in California Category:1926 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Avant-garde jazz trumpeters

Name	Joshua Redman
Landscape	yes
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	February 01, 1969Berkeley, CaliforniaUnited States
Instrument	Tenor saxophone, Soprano saxophone
Genre	Jazz
Occupation	Musician, composer
Label	Warner Bros., Nonesuch
Url	joshuaredman.com

Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.

Biography

Redman, who is both African American and Jewish American, was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. He was exposed to many kinds of music at the Center for World Music in Berkeley, where his mother studied South Indian dance. Some of his earliest lessons in music and improvisation were on recorder with gamelan player Jody Diamond.

He graduated from Berkeley High School, class of 1986, after having been a part of the award-winning Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble for all 4 years of high school. In 1991, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. During college, he used his mother's maiden name, as Josh Shedroff.

Redman won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, also in 1991, and began focusing on his musical career. Redman continued to develop his style throughout the 1990s, beginning with a sideman appearance on Elvin Jones' Youngblood alongside Javon Jackson (recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in April 1991), and following up with an appearance on his father Dewey's 1992 record Choices. On his second album as a leader, Wish, he was joined by a notable lineup consisting of guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins; he would later tour this album as The Joshua Redman Quartet, featuring Christian McBride in place of Charlie Haden. He continued to work with various quartets, including one with pianist Brad Mehldau until forming a new trio, Elastic, with keyboardist Sam Yahel and drummer Brian Blade. The trio debuted under the moniker Yaya3, producing one album under this name. The same group of musicians made up the core on Redman's Elastic album, before becoming known as the Joshua Redman Elastic Band. Some of his works were featured on The Weather Channel's Local On The 8s.

In 1994, Redman appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, , appearing on a track titled "The Scream" along side Us3 and Tony Remy. The album was named "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine.

In addition to his efforts with Elastic, Redman was the artistic director of San Francisco's SFJAZZ Collective from 2004-2007. Redman has made a guest appearance on an episode of the TV show Arthur as the uncle of Francine, one of the main characters. The episode also depicts him in a boxing match against classic cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He worked with Yoko Kanno in the Japanese blues group, The Seatbelts that did the music for Cowboy Bebop. He also appeared on Reading Rainbow, episode 127 "Hip-Cat," in which Redman discussed with host Levar Burton the importance of music and how jazz had affected his life, which he followed with a live performance. Redman also performed on the soundtrack of the made for TV film "Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story" (1995).

Redman has also appeared on recordings and in live performances by Umphrey's McGee. On his album, Back East, Redman paid tribute to Sonny Rollins' 1957 album Way Out West, teaming up with musicians including Brian Blade, Christian McBride, Al Jackson, Joe Lovano, and his late father.

Redman was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.

Discography

As leader

{| border=0 cellspacing=0 style="background:#E0FFFF;" |- bgcolor="#FAD7E7" !align=left|Title !!width=100|Year of Release!!Label|| |- align=center |align=left|Joshua Redman || 1993 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Wish || 1993 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Moodswing || 1994 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Joshua Redman Captured Live || 1994 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Spirit of the Moment - Live at the Village Vanguard || 1995 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Freedom in the Groove || 1996 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Timeless Tales for Changing Times || 1998 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Beyond || 2000 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Passage of Time || 2001 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Elastic || 2002 || align=left|Warner Bros. || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Momentum || 2005 || align=left|Nonesuch || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Back East || 2007 || align=left|Nonesuch || |- align=center ''|| |align=left|Compass || 2009 || align=left|Nonesuch || |}

As sideman

With Jonny King

Notes from the Underground (1996, Enja Records)

With Christian McBride

Gettin' To It (1993)

With Kurt Rosenwinkel

Deep Song (2005)

With Brad Mehldau

Highway Rider (2010, Nonesuch)

References

External links

Official website

(New England Jazz History Database) Worcester Magazine - "Joshua Redman Launches City Jazz Fest" by Chet Williamson

Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:American jazz soprano saxophonists Category:Soul-jazz saxophonists Category:Jazz fusion saxophonists Category:Jazz-funk saxophonists Category:Mainstream jazz saxophonists Category:Jazz saxophonists Category:Black Jews Category:People from Berkeley, California Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American Jews Category:1969 births Category:Living people

Name	Joshua Jackson
Caption	Jackson at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July, 2010.
Birth name	Joshua Carter Jackson
Birth date	June 11, 1978
Birth place	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Actor
Partner	Diane Kruger (2006–present)
Years active	1990–present

Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series Fringe.

Early life

Joshua Carter Jackson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Fiona Jackson, a casting director, and John Carter. Jackson's father is from Texas and his mother is a native of Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, having emigrated to North America in the late 1960s. He was raised Catholic. He has a sister, Aisleagh, and two half-brothers, Lyman and Jonathan Carter from his father's first marriage. Jackson grew up in California until the age of 8. Not long after his sister was born in California, his parents divorced and Jackson, his mother and sister then moved to Seattle, where he attended Einstein Middle School in Shoreline, Washington. Shortly thereafter, he moved back to Vancouver with his mother and younger sister. He attended Ideal Mini School and later switched to Kitsilano Secondary School. In an interview with The New York Times, Jackson said he was kicked out of high school once because of The Jon Stewart Show: "[The show] played, at least where I grew up, at 1:30 in the morning, so I would stay up at night to watch Jon Stewart, but then I'd be too tired—or too lazy—to go to school in the morning. So I'd just take the first couple of classes off, 'cause I wanted to be fresh when I got there." He claims that the first time was because of "attitude" problems and that he "wasn't in the school spirit".

Career

Soon after he took up acting, Jackson landed the role of Charlie (#96) in The Mighty Ducks series, a part for which Jake Gyllenhaal was also considered (years later both would also be amongst a small group of actors considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins, which eventually went to Christian Bale). Jackson went on to appear as Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek, which ran on the WB network from 1998–2003, and also starred James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes. While the show was on hiatus, he appeared in several movies including The Skulls, The Safety of Objects, The Laramie Project and a short cameo in the remake of Ocean's Eleven where he appears as himself in a poker scene with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Holly Marie Combs, among others. In 2000, he also guest-starred in Season 12 of The Simpsons, voicing the character of Jesse Grass, a "hunky environmentalist" and love interest for Lisa Simpson in the episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger".

Shortly after Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, Jackson played the lead role in films alongside Dennis Hopper (Americano), Harvey Keitel (Shadows in the Sun), and Donald Sutherland (Aurora Borealis). In 2005, Jackson moved to the UK and made his stage debut on the London West End with Patrick Stewart in David Mamet's two-man play, A Life in the Theatre. The play was a critical and popular success, and ran from February to April of that year. Jackson has said in recent interviews that he would consider returning to the stage, this time trying his hand on Broadway. His next film role was in the all-star ensemble drama Bobby, directed by Emilio Estevez, Jackson's co-star from The Mighty Ducks. He played a lead role in a US remake of the Asian horror film Shutter. He has recently starred and acted as executive producer in the Canadian independent film One Week, which opened on March 6, 2009.

Jackson currently plays Peter Bishop in J.J. Abrams' science-fiction series Fringe. Created by JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The series appears on the Fox TV network and is the second-highest rated new show of the 2008–09 season after CBS' The Mentalist.

Jackson was nominated for Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for the film One Week. He then won the award on April 12, 2010.

He held and hosted Pacey-Con in 2010, directly across the street from the San Diego Comic-Con, sporting a bowling shirt and giving out fan fiction he wrote himself to those fortunate enough to be waiting in the Comic-Con entrance line. Footage of the event was recorded for a video, entitled 'Pacey-Con', which he was filming for Will Ferrell's Funny or Die celebrity humour website.

Personal life

Jackson was arrested at a November 9, 2002 Carolina Hurricanes ice hockey game in Raleigh, North Carolina after an altercation with a security guard. He was charged with assault affray and being intoxicated and disruptive. At the time of his arrest he had a 0.14 blood-alcohol content. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to attend an alcohol education program after which he performed 24 hours of community service.

Jackson currently divides his time between Paris and Vancouver. He owns his childhood home in Topanga, California. Previously he lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the television program Dawson's Creek was filmed; and in New York where Fringe filmed its first season. In 2009, he moved back to Vancouver for the shooting of the second season of Fringe.

Jackson has been in relationships with actresses Katie Holmes, Brittany Daniel and Rosario Dawson. He began dating model and actress Diane Kruger in 2006.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film |- ! Year !! Title !! Role !! class="unsortable" | Notes |- ! 1991 | Crooked Hearts | Tom (11 years) | |- ! 1992 | The Mighty Ducks | Charlie Conway | |- ! 1993 | Digger | Billy | |- ! 1994 | | Charlie Conway | |- ! 1994 | Andre | Mark Baker | |- ! 1995 | Magic in the Water | Joshua Black | |- ! 1996 | | Charlie Conway | |- ! 1996 | Robin of Locksley | John Prince Jr. | |- ! 1997 | Scream 2 | Film Class Guy #1 | |- ! 1998 | The Battery | Michael Papperman | Short film |- ! 1998 | Apt Pupil | Joey | |- ! 1998 | Urban Legend | Damon Brooks | |- ! 1999 | Cruel Intentions | Blaine Tuttle | |- ! 1999 | Muppets from Space | Pacey Witter | Uncredited Role |- ! 2000 | The Skulls | Lucas 'Luke' McNamara | |- ! 2000 | Gossip | Beau Edson | |- ! 2001 | The Safety of Objects | Paul Gold | |- ! 2001 | Ocean's Eleven | Josh | Cameo |- ! 2002 | The Laramie Project | Matt Galloway | |- ! 2002 | Lone Star State of Mind | Earl Crest | Alternative title: Cowboys and Idiots |- ! 2003 | I Love Your Work | John | |- ! 2005 | Cursed | Jake Taylor | |- ! 2005 | Racing Stripes | Trenton's Pride | Voice Role |- ! 2005 | Americano | Chris McKinley | |- ! 2005 | Aurora Borealis | Duncan Shorter | |- ! 2005 | The Shadow Dancer | Jeremy Taylor | Alternative title: Shadows in the Sun |- ! 2006 | Bobby | Wade Buckley | |- ! 2007 | Battle in Seattle | Randall | |- ! 2008 | Shutter | Benjamin Shaw | |- ! 2008 | One Week | Ben Tyler | |- ! 2011 | U.F.O. | Paul Foster | pre-production |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television |- ! Year !! Title !! Role !! class="unsortable" | Notes |- ! 1991 | Payoff | Young Mac | TV-Movie |- ! 1996 | Champs | Matt Mazzilli | Episode: Breaking Up Is Hard to DoEpisode: For Art's Sake |- ! 1996 | Robin of Locksley | Prince John Jr. | TV-Movie |- ! 1997 | Ronnie & Julie | Ronnie Monroe | TV-Movie |- ! 1997 | On the Edge of Innocence | Sammy | TV-Movie |- ! 1997 | The Outer Limits | Devon Taylor | Episode: Music of the Spheres |- ! 1998–2003 | Dawson's Creek | Pacey Witter | 128 episodes |- ! 2000 | The Simpsons | Jesse Grass | Episode: Lisa the Tree Hugger |- ! 2006 | Capitol Law | Mark Clayton | TV-Pilot |- ! 2008–present | Fringe | Peter Bishop | 47 episodes |}

Awards

; Genie Awards

2010: Won, "Best Actor" – One Week

; Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival

2005: Won, "Best Actor" – Aurora Borealis

; Hollywood Film Festival

2006: Won, "Best Ensemble of the Year" – Bobby

Satellite Award

2006: Nominated, "Best Actor in a Dramatic Motion Picture" – Aurora Borealis

; Screen Actors Guild Awards

2007: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" – Bobby

; Teen Choice Award

1999: Won, "Choice TV Actor" – Dawson's Creek

2000: Nominated, "Choice Liar in a Film" – The Skulls

2000: Won, "Choice TV Actor" – Dawson's Creek

2001: Won, "Choice TV Actor" – Dawson's Creek

2002: Nominated, "Choice TV Actor" – Dawson's Creek

2003: Nominated, "Choice TV Actor" – Dawson's Creek

2009: Nominated, "Choice TV Actor" – Fringe

; Young Artist Award

1993: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture" – The Mighty Ducks

; Young Hollywood Award

2000: Won, "Male Superstar of Tomorrow"

References

External links

Joshua Jackson on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Category:1978 births Category:Actors from British Columbia Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Canadian child actors Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian people of American descent Category:Canadian people of Irish descent Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:Canadian stage actors Category:Canadian television actors Category:Canadian voice actors Category:Genie Award winners for Best Actor Category:Living people Category:People from Vancouver

Joshua Allen (born March 13, 1989) is the winner of the fourth season of So You Think You Can Dance. He had originally auditioned in Dallas, Texas with his friend and fellow contestant, Comfort Fedoke. Allen was announced winner of the show on August 7, 2008, winning $250,000.

Early life

Allen was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He first started to dance in third grade, at the age of 8. One of his early influences was Michael Jackson, whom Allen emulated by doing the Moonwalk. He also excelled at sports and played football and track. On July 30, 2009, Allen returned, along with fellow Season 4 contestant Chelsie Hightower, to perform their Emmy nominated Argentine Tango, choreographed by Season 2 contestant Dmitry Chaplin.

Post-SYTYCD

As part of his prize for winning SYTYCD Season 4, Allen appeared as a featured dancer in Step Up 3D, along with fellow finalists Katee Shean and Stephen 'Twitch' Boss. He will also appear in the dance comedy Freak Dance. In 2010, Joshua took part in Season 2 of Oxygen's Dance Your Ass Off as one of the show's pros. Joshua will be a featured dancer in the upcoming remake of the musical/movie Footloose, dued to be released in 2011.

References

Category:So You Think You Can Dance contestants Category:Living people Category:American dancers Category:Reality show winners Category:1989 births Category:African American dancers

Name	George Stroumboulopoulos
Caption	George Stroumboulopoulos (photo credit: Dustin Rabin, 2008)
Birth date	August 16, 1972
Birth place	Malton, Ontario, Canada
Birthname	George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos
Othername	Strombo

George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (; born August 16, 1972) is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight (formerly The Hour; a talk show about the world's current events) and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic. George studied Radio Broadcasting at Toronto's Humber College.

Family background

He was born in Malton, Ontario, Canada, to a Greek father from Egypt and a Ukrainian mother. He was raised in Toronto primarily by his mother, and a close-knit extended family.

Career

Radio broadcasting

In Spring 1993 he worked at rock radio in Kelowna, B.C. for a few months before getting a job offer at the Toronto radio station Fan 590 AM, working in talk radio for about four years before moving to MuchMusic.

MuchMusic

From 2000-2004, Stroumboulopoulos worked at MuchMusic as producer and host of The Punk Show, then host of The NewMusic, MuchLOUD and MuchNews.

The Greatest Canadian

Prior to joining The Hour Stroumboulopoulos was featured on CBC television's The Greatest Canadian series as the advocate for Tommy Douglas. More than 1.2 million votes were cast over six weeks, as each of 10 advocates made their case for the Top 10 nominees. George made a personal and passionate case for Tommy Douglas, Canada's "father of medicare," and Douglas won!

Strombo Show

Stroumboulopoulos has hosted a long-running Sunday night talk radio show, The Strombo Show. Originally aired as a talk show on CFRB in Toronto and CJAD in Montreal, the show moved to the Corus network in November 2007 and the format changed to one of mainly music. The Strombo Show broadcast from 102.1 The Edge's Toronto studio and on other radio stations in the Corus Entertainment network, including CFOX-FM in Vancouver, Power 97 in Winnipeg, FM96 in London and Y108 in Hamilton.

The show moved to CBC Radio 2 on November 8, 2009.

The Hour / George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight

On January 17, 2005, the first episode of The Hour went to air. Currently in its sixth season, The Hour is a hybrid of news and celebrity and covers everything from politics, pop culture, the environment, human rights, entertainment, sports and more. Airing nationally at 11:00 pm on CBC, The Hour is Canada's only late-night talk show. It has won eight Gemini Awards. Stroumboulopoulos and The Hour have hosted a range of guests from world leaders to celebrities and politicians.

For the 7th season of the talk show, CBC announced that beginning September 20, 2010, the show was being renamed and shortened into a daily half-hour show called George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight; the revised program is broadcast weeknights at 11:05PM local time, 11:30PM in Newfoundland.

The One: Making a Music Star

In July 2006, George Stroumboulopoulos hosted an American reality television talent show, The One: Making a Music Star that aired on ABC in the United States, and CBC Television in Canada. It was advertised as a similar show to American Idol and Rock Star but with the twist that contestants would "live together in a fully functioning music academy", with their actions documented similar to the Big Brother format.

Reportedly the most expensive summer series in the history of the ABC network, its first episode, on July 18, 2006, scored a low audience of 3.08 million viewers. Subsequent episodes had even fewer viewers. The series was cancelled after just two weeks (four episodes) with the final results undecided on July 27, 2006 with no plans for any further episodes. Stroumboulopoulos returned to The Hour after the failure of the reality television show The One.

Charity and public awareness

George Stroumboulopoulos and The Hour sponsored the 'One Million Acts of Green' Internet Website challenge, calling on Canadians to register environmental acts they've done. The campaign registered over 1.6 million acts on the website. George and his family have been devoted to this cause also supported by Dr. David Suzuki.

Stroumboulopoulos has also been involved with numerous charitable initiatives, such as hosting the 'HipHop4Africa' Mandela Children's Fund Canada and CapAids February 2006 Toronto benefit. He has traveled to the Arctic for a special on literacy, youth culture and the loss of Inuit identity. He has been to Sudan with War Child Canada, and Zambia for a World AIDS Day special documentary. He also supports Make Poverty History. He joined other prominent Canadians in sharing views on global issues in the March 2010 issue of Upstream Journal magazine.

He was co-host of Canada for Haiti television with Cheryl Hickey and Ben Mulroney to help the humanitarian crisis in Haiti after a devastating earthquake.

Awards

The Hour has won six Gemini Awards.

*In 2006 - Viewers Choice Award - Best Host

*In 2007 - Best Talk Series - Best Host - Best Production/Design

*In 2008 - Best Host

George Stroumboulopoulos was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws, from the University of Calgary on November 13, 2007.

In June 2008, He was also awarded an honourary degree in Communications from Humber College

References

External links

George Stroumboulopoulos site on CBC

Strombo.com, his personal website

George Stroumboulopoulos's Myspace

Recap of The Hour: Season One, including highlights of clips in the shows video archive.

Recap of The Hour: Season Two, features highlights from the second season of the show.

Category:1972 births Category:Canadian game show hosts Category:Canadian radio sportscasters Category:Canadian people of Greek descent Category:Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Category:Canadian talk radio hosts Category:Canadian television talk show hosts Category:Humber College alumni Category:Living people Category:MuchMusic personalities Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Participants in Canadian reality television series Category:People from Mississauga Category:People from Toronto Category:CBC Radio hosts

Name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Born	January 19, 1946
Birth place	Sevierville, Tennessee
Genre	Country, country pop, bluegrass
Voice type	Soprano) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music.
- style	"text-align:center;"
- style	"text-align:center;"
|- style	"text-align:center;"
- style	"text-align:center;"

Further reading

. . .

External links

dollypartonmusic.net, (official music website)

dollyparton.com, (official website - not fully launched as of December 23, 2009 and requires Adobe Flash)

(UK Website run by Uberfan Joe Skelly)

"Dolly Parton", inductee page at countrymusichalloffame.com Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's official website

"Dolly Parton" biography at legacyrecordings.com, Legacy Recordings's official website

"Dolly Parton – Interview", posted November 18, 2008, at countrymusicpride.com

"A Conversation with Singer and Actress Dolly Parton", a June 5, 2009, video interview (requires Adobe Flash) from the Charlie Rose (talk show), a PBS television program, at charlierose.com, Rose's official website

Dolly Parton video interview from the talk show 'Parkinson' at BBC

Category:American buskers Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female singers Category:American female guitarists Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American memoirists Category:Appalachian culture Category:American Pentecostals Category:American philanthropists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:1946 births Category:American television personalities Category:American sopranos Category:Living people Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American musical theatre lyricists

, 1820]]

Ludwig van Beethoven (; ; baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is considered to have been the most crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.

Biography

Background and early life

, Bonngasse 20, now the Beethoven-Haus museum]]

Beethoven was the grandson of a musician of Flemish origin named Lodewijk van Beethoven (1712–1773). Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767; she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, who had been the head chef at the court of the Archbishopric of Trier.

Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn; he was baptized in a Roman Catholic service on 17 December 1770, and was probably born the previous day, 16 December. Children of that era were usually baptized the day after birth, and it is known that Beethoven's family and his teacher Johann Albrechtsberger celebrated his birthday on 16 December. While this evidence supports the case for 16 December 1770 as Beethoven's date of birth, it cannot be stated with certainty, as there is no documentary evidence of it (only his baptismal record survives). Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only the second-born, Ludwig, and two younger brothers survived infancy. Caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776.

Beethoven's first music teacher was his father. A traditional belief concerning Johann van Beethoven is that he was a harsh instructor, and that the child Beethoven, "made to stand at the keyboard, was often in tears".

Some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Court's Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition: a set of keyboard variations (WoO 63).

Maximilian Frederick's successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Franz, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and he brought notable changes to Bonn. Echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts. The teenage Beethoven was almost certainly influenced by these changes. He may also have been strongly influenced at this time by ideas prominent in freemasonry, as Neefe and others around Beethoven were members of the local chapter of the Order of the Illuminati.

In March 1787 Beethoven traveled to Vienna (it is unknown at whose expense) for the first time, apparently in the hope of studying with Wolfgang Mozart. The details of their relationship are uncertain, including whether or not they actually met. After just two weeks there Beethoven learned that his mother was severely ill, and he was forced to return home. His mother died shortly thereafter, and the father lapsed deeper into alcoholism. As a result, Beethoven became responsible for the care of his two younger brothers, and he spent the next five years in Bonn.

Beethoven was introduced to a number of people who became important in his life in these years. Franz Wegeler, a young medical student, introduced him to the von Breuning family (one of whose daughters Wegeler eventually married). Beethoven was often at the von Breuning household, where he was exposed to German and classical literature, and where he also gave piano instruction to some of the children. The von Breuning family environment was also less stressful than his own, which was increasingly dominated by his father's strict control and descent into alcoholism. It is also in these years that Beethoven came to the attention of Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who became a lifelong friend and financial supporter.

In 1789 he obtained a legal order by which half of his father's salary was paid directly to him for support of the family. He also contributed further to the family's income by playing viola in the court orchestra. This familiarized Beethoven with a variety of operas, including three of Mozart's operas performed at court in this period. He also befriended Anton Reicha, a flautist and violinist of about his own age who was the conductor's nephew.

Establishing his career in Vienna

With the Elector's help, Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792. He was probably first introduced to Joseph Haydn in late 1790, when the latter was traveling to London and stopped in Bonn around Christmas time. They met in Bonn on Haydn's return trip from London to Vienna in July 1792, and it is likely that arrangements were made at that time for Beethoven to study with the old master. In the intervening years, Beethoven composed a significant number of works (none were published at the time, and most are now listed as works without opus) that demonstrated a growing range and maturity of style. Musicologists have identified a theme similar to those of his third symphony in a set of variations written in 1791. Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna in November 1792, amid rumors of war spilling out of France, and learned shortly after his arrival that his father had died. Beethoven responded to the widespread feeling that he was a successor to the recently deceased Mozart over the next few years by studying that master's work and writing works with a distinctly Mozartean flavor.

Beethoven did not immediately set out to establish himself as a composer, but rather devoted himself to study and to playing the piano. Working under Haydn's direction, he sought to master counterpoint. He also took violin lessons from Ignaz Schuppanzigh. Early in this period, he also began receiving occasional instruction from Antonio Salieri, primarily in Italian vocal composition style; this relationship persisted until at least 1802, and possibly 1809. With Haydn's departure for England in 1794, Beethoven was expected by the Elector to return home. He chose instead to remain in Vienna, continuing his instruction in counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger and other teachers. Although his stipend from the Elector expired, a number of Viennese noblemen had already recognized his ability and offered him financial support, among them Prince Joseph Franz Lobkowitz, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, and Baron Gottfried van Swieten.

By 1793, Beethoven established a reputation as an improviser in the salons of the nobility, often playing the preludes and fugues of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. His friend Nikolaus Simrock had also begun publishing his compositions; the first are believed to be a set of variations (WoO 66). Beethoven spent much of 1794 composing. By 1793, he had established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso, but he apparently withheld works from publication so that their publication in 1795 would have greater impact. Shortly after this performance, he arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions to which he assigned an opus number, the piano trios of Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky, and were a financial success; Beethoven's profits were nearly sufficient to cover his living expenses for a year.

Musical maturity

Between 1798 and 1802 Beethoven tackled what he considered the pinnacles of composition: the string quartet and the symphony. With the composition of his first six string quartets (Op. 18) between 1798 and 1800 (written on commission for, and dedicated to, Prince Lobkowitz), and their publication in 1801, along with premieres of the First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1802, Beethoven was justifiably considered one of the most important of a generation of young composers following after Haydn and Mozart. He continued to write in other forms, turning out widely known piano sonatas like the "Pathétique" sonata (Op. 13), which Cooper describes as "surpass[ing] any of his previous compositions, in strength of character, depth of emotion, level of originality, and ingenuity of motivic and tonal manipulation". He also completed his Septet (Op. 20) in 1799, which was one of his most popular works during his lifetime. ]]

For the premiere of his First Symphony, Beethoven hired the Burgtheater on 2 April 1800, and staged an extensive program of music, including works by Haydn and Mozart, as well as the Septet, the First Symphony, and one of his piano concertos (the latter three works all then unpublished). The concert, which the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described as "the most interesting concert in a long time", was not without difficulties; among other criticisms was that "the players did not bother to pay any attention to the soloist".

While Mozart and Haydn were undeniable influences (for example, Beethoven's quintet for piano and winds is said to bear a strong resemblance to Mozart's work for the same configuration, albeit with his own distinctive touches), other composers like Muzio Clementi were also stylistic influences. Beethoven's melodies, musical development, use of modulation and texture, and characterization of emotion all set him apart from his influences, and heightened the impact some of his early works made when they were first published. By the end of 1800 Beethoven and his music were already much in demand from patrons and publishers.

depicts Beethoven with a lyre-guitar]]

In May of 1799, Beethoven gave piano lessons to the daughters of Hungarian Countess Anna Brunsvik. While this round of lessons lasted less than one month, Beethoven formed a relationship with the older daughter Josephine that has been the subject of speculation ever since. Shortly after these lessons she married Count Josef Deym, and Beethoven was a regular visitor at their house, giving lessons and playing at parties. While her marriage was by all accounts unhappy, the couple had four children, and her relationship with Beethoven did not intensify until after Deym died in 1804.

Beethoven had few other students. From 1801 to 1805, he tutored Ferdinand Ries, who went on to become a composer and later wrote Beethoven remembered, a book about their encounters. The young Carl Czerny studied with Beethoven from 1801 to 1803. Czerny went on to become a renowned music teacher himself, taking on Franz Liszt as one of his students, and also gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto (the "Emperor") in 1812.

Beethoven's compositions between 1800 and 1802 were dominated by two works, although he continued to produce smaller works, including the Moonlight Sonata. In the spring of 1801 he completed The Creatures of Prometheus, a ballet. The work was such a success that it received numerous performances in 1801 and 1802, and Beethoven rushed to publish a piano arrangement to capitalize on its early popularity. In the spring of 1802 he completed the Second Symphony, intended for performance at a concert that was eventually cancelled. The symphony received its premiere at a subscription concert in April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven had been appointed as composer in residence. In addition to the Second Symphony, the concert also featured the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto, and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. While reviews were mixed, the concert was a financial success; Beethoven was able to charge three times the cost of a typical concert ticket.

Beethoven's business dealings with publishers also began to improve in 1802 when his brother Carl, who had previously assisted him more casually, began to assume a larger role in the management of his affairs. In addition to negotiating higher prices for recently composed works, Carl also began selling some of Beethoven's earlier unpublished works, and encouraged Beethoven (against the latter's preference) to also make arrangements and transcriptions of his more popular works for other instrument combinations. Beethoven acceded to these requests, as he could not prevent publishers from hiring others to do similar arrangements of his works.

Loss of hearing

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. The cause of Beethoven's deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to syphilis, lead poisoning, typhus, auto-immune disorder (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation, from the autopsy of the time, is that he had a "distended inner ear" which developed lesions over time. Because of the high levels of lead found in samples of Beethoven's hair, that hypothesis has been extensively analyzed. While the likelihood of lead poisoning is very high, the deafness associated with it seldom takes the form that Beethoven exhibited.

As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems). Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, which records his resolution to continue living for and through his art. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, but it made playing at concerts—a lucrative source of income—increasingly difficult. After a failed attempt in 1811 to perform his own Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), which was premiered by his student Carl Czerny, he never performed in public again.

A large collection of Beethoven's hearing aids such as a special ear horn can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn, Germany. Despite his obvious distress, Carl Czerny remarked that Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally until 1812. By 1814 however, Beethoven was almost totally deaf, and when a group of visitors saw him play a loud arpeggio of thundering bass notes at his piano remarking, "Ist es nicht schön?" (Is it not beautiful?), they felt deep sympathy considering his courage and sense of humor (he lost the ability to hear higher frequencies first).

As a result of Beethoven's hearing loss, a unique historical record has been preserved: his conversation books. Used primarily in the last ten or so years of his life, his friends wrote in these books so that he could know what they were saying, and he then responded either orally or in the book. The books contain discussions about music and other issues, and give insights into his thinking; they are a source for investigation into how he felt his music should be performed, and also his perception of his relationship to art. Unfortunately, 264 out of a total of 400 conversation books were destroyed (and others were altered) after Beethoven's death by Anton Schindler, in his attempt to paint an idealized picture of the composer.

Patronage

While Beethoven earned income from publication of his works and from public performances, he also depended on the generosity of patrons for income, for whom he gave private performances and copies of works they commissioned for an exclusive period prior to their publication. Some of his early patrons, including Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Lichnowsky, gave him annual stipends in addition to commissioning works and purchasing published works.

Perhaps Beethoven's most important aristocratic patron was Archduke Rudolph, the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II, who in 1803 or 1804 began to study piano and composition with Beethoven. The cleric (Cardinal-Priest) and the composer became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated 14 compositions to Rudolph, including the Archduke Trio (1811) and his great Missa Solemnis (1823). Rudolph, in turn, dedicated one of his own compositions to Beethoven. The letters Beethoven wrote to Rudolph are today kept at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

In the Autumn of 1808, after having been rejected for a position at the royal theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte, then king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, the Archduke Rudolph, Prince Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz, after receiving representations from the composer's friends, pledged to pay Beethoven a pension of 4000 florins a year. Only Archduke Rudolph paid his share of the pension on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to duty as an officer, did not contribute and soon died after falling from his horse. Lobkowitz stopped paying in September 1811. No successors came forward to continue the patronage, and Beethoven relied mostly on selling composition rights and a small pension after 1815. The effects of these financial arrangements were undermined to some extent by war with France, which caused significant inflation when the government printed money to fund its war efforts.

The Middle period

Beethoven's return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt was marked by a change in musical style, now recognized as the start of his "Middle" or "Heroic" period. According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven said, "I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way". This "Heroic" phase was characterised by a large number of original works being composed on a grand scale. The first major work employing this new style was the Third Symphony in E flat, known as the "Eroica". While other composers had written symphonies with implied programs, or stories, this work was longer and larger in scope than any previously written symphony. When it premiered in early 1805 it received a mixed reception, with some listeners objecting to its length or failing to understand its structure, while others viewed it as another masterpiece.

Beethoven composed highly ambitious works throughout the Middle period, often heroic in tone, that extended the scope of the classical musical language Beethoven had inherited from Haydn and Mozart. The Middle period work includes the Third through Eighth Symphonies, the string quartets 7–11, the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas, Christ on the Mount of Olives, the opera Fidelio, the Violin Concerto and many other compositions. During this time Beethoven earned his living from the sale and performance of his work, and from the continuing support of wealthy patrons. His position at the Theater an der Wien was terminated when the theater changed management in early 1804, and he was forced to move temporarily to the suburbs of Vienna with his friend Stephan von Breuning. This slowed work on Fidelio, his largest work to date, for a time. It was delayed again by the Austrian censor, and finally premiered in November 1805 to houses that were nearly empty because of the French occupation of the city. In addition to being a financial failure, this version of Fidelio was also a critical failure, and Beethoven began revising it.

The string quartets composed during the Middle period are Op. 59 no 1, Op 59 no 2, Op 59 no 3 (The Razumowski quartets), Op. 74 (the Harp) and Op 95. Beethoven's publisher said that the world was not ready for the middle quartets. The slow movement of Op. 59 no 2 has been described as the closest Beethoven got to heaven. Even Beethoven said that the Op. 95 quartet was not suitable for public performance.

The work of the Middle period established Beethoven's reputation as a great composer. In a review from 1810, he was enshrined by E. T. A. Hoffmann as one of the three great "Romantic" composers; Hoffman called Beethoven's Fifth Symphony "one of the most important works of the age". A particular trauma for Beethoven occurred during this period in May 1809, when the attacking forces of Napoleon bombarded Vienna. According to Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, very worried that the noise would destroy what remained of his hearing, hid in the basement of his brother's house, covering his ears with pillows. He was composing the "Emperor" Concerto at the time.

Personal and family difficulties

Beethoven was introduced to Giulietta Guicciardi in about 1800 through the Brunsvik family. His mutual love-relationship with Guicciardi is mentioned in a November 1801 letter to his boyhood friend, Franz Wegeler. Beethoven dedicated to Giulietta his Sonata No. 14, popularly known as the "Moonlight" Sonata. Marriage plans were thwarted by Giulietta's father and perhaps Beethoven's common lineage. In 1803 she married Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg (1783–1839), himself an amateur composer.

Beethoven's relationship with Josephine Deym notably deepened after the death of her first husband in 1804. There is some evidence that Beethoven may have proposed to her, at least informally. While the relationship was apparently reciprocated, she, with some regret, turned him down, and their relationship effectively ended in 1807. She cited her "duty", an apparent reference to the fact that she was born of nobility and he was a commoner. It is also likely that he considered proposing (whether he actually did or not is unknown) to Therese Malfatti, the dedicatee of "Für Elise" in 1810; his common status may also have interfered with those plans.

In the spring of 1811 Beethoven became seriously ill, suffering headaches and bad fevers. On the advice of his doctor, he spent six weeks in the Bohemian spa town of Teplitz. The following winter, which was dominated by work on the Seventh symphony, he was again ill, and decided to spend the summer of 1812 at Teplitz. It is likely that he was at Teplitz when he wrote three love letters to an "Immortal Beloved". While the identity of the intended recipient is an ongoing subject of debate, the most likely candidate, according to what is known about people's movements and the contents of the letters, is Antonie Brentano, a married woman with whom he had begun a friendship in 1810. Beethoven traveled to Karlsbad in late July, where he stayed in the same guesthouse as the Brentanos. After traveling with them for a time, he returned to Teplitz, where after another bout of gastric illness, he left for Linz to visit his brother Johann.

In early 1813 Beethoven apparently went through a difficult emotional period, and his compositional output dropped for a time. Historians have suggested a variety of causes, including his lack of success at romance. His personal appearance, which had generally been neat, degraded, as did his manners in public, especially when dining. Some of his (married) desired romantic partners had children (leading to assertions among historians of Beethoven's possible paternity), and his brother Carl was seriously ill. Beethoven took care of his brother and his family, an expense that he claimed left him penniless. He was unable to obtain a date for a concert in the spring of 1813, which, if successful, would have provided him with significant funds.

Beethoven was finally motivated to begin significant composition again in June 1813, when news arrived of the defeat of one of Napoleon's armies at Vitoria, Spain, by a coalition of forces under the Duke of Wellington. This news stimulated him to write the battle symphony known as Wellington's Victory. It was premiered on 8 December at a charity concert for victims of the war along with his Seventh Symphony. The work was a popular hit, likely because of its programmatic style which was entertaining and easy to understand. It received repeat performances at concerts Beethoven staged in January and February 1814. Beethoven's renewed popularity led to demands for a revival of Fidelio, which, in its third revised version, was also well-received when it opened in July. That summer he also composed a piano sonata for the first time in five years (No. 27, Opus 90). This work was in a markedly more Romantic style than his earlier sonatas. He was also one of many composers who produced music in a patriotic vein to entertain the many heads of state and diplomats that came to the Congress of Vienna that began in November 1814. His output of songs included his only song cycle, "An die ferne Geliebte", and the extraordinarily expressive, but almost incoherent, "An die Hoffnung" (Opus 94).

Custody struggle and illness

Between 1815 and 1817 Beethoven's output dropped again. Part of this Beethoven attributed to a lengthy illness (he called it an "inflammatory fever") that afflicted him for more than a year, starting in October 1816. Biographers have speculated on a variety of other reasons that also contributed to the decline in creative output, including the difficulties in the personal lives of his would-be paramours and the harsh censorship policies of the Austrian government. The illness and death of his brother Carl from consumption likely also played a role.

Carl had been ill for some time, and Beethoven spent a small fortune in 1815 on his care. When he finally died on 15 November 1815, Beethoven immediately became embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with Carl's wife Johanna over custody of their son Karl, then nine years old. Beethoven, who considered Johanna an unfit parent because of her morals (she had an illegitimate child by a different father before marrying Carl, and had been convicted of theft) and financial management, had successfully applied to Carl to have himself named sole guardian of the boy; but a late codicil to Carl's will gave him and Johanna joint guardianship. While Beethoven was successful at having his nephew removed from her custody in February 1816, the case was not fully resolved until 1820, and he was frequently preoccupied by the demands of the litigation and seeing to the welfare of the boy, whom he first placed in a private school. The custody fight brought out the very worst aspects of Beethoven's character; in the lengthy court cases Beethoven stopped at nothing to ensure that he achieved this goal, and even stopped composing for long periods.

The Austrian court system had one court for the nobility, The R&I; Landrechte, and another for commoners, The Civil Court of the Magistrate. Beethoven disguised the fact that the Dutch "van" in his name did not denote nobility as does the German "von", and his case was tried in the Landrechte. Owing to his influence with the court, Beethoven felt assured of a favorable outcome. Beethoven was awarded sole guardianship. While giving evidence to the Landrechte, however, Beethoven inadvertently His musical output in 1818 was still somewhat reduced, but included song collections and the Hammerklavier Sonata, as well as sketches for two symphonies that eventually coalesced into the large-scale Ninth Symphony. In 1819 he was again preoccupied by the legal processes around Karl, and began work on the Diabelli Variations and the Missa Solemnis.

For the next few years he continued to work on the Missa, composing piano sonatas and bagatelles to satisfy the demands of publishers and the need for income, and completing the Diabelli Variations. He was ill again for an extended time in 1821, and completed the Missa in 1823, three years after its original due date. He also opened discussions with his publishers over the possibility of producing a complete edition of his works, an idea that was arguably not fully realized until 1971. Beethoven's brother Johann began to take a hand in his business affairs around this time, much in the way Carl had earlier, locating older unpublished works to offer for publication and offering the Missa to multiple publishers with the goal of getting a higher price for it.

Two commissions in 1822 improved Beethoven's financial prospects. The Philharmonic Society of London offered a commission for a symphony, and Prince Nikolay Golitsin of St. Petersburg offered to pay Beethoven's price for three string quartets. The first of these spurred Beethoven to finish the Ninth Symphony, which was premiered, along with the Missa Solemnis, on 7 May 1824, to great acclaim at the Kärntnertortheater. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung gushed "inexhaustible genius had shown us a new world", and Carl Czerny wrote that his symphony "breathes such a fresh, lively, indeed youthful spirit [...] so much power, innovation, and beauty as ever [came] from the head of this original man, although he certainly sometimes led the old wigs to shake their heads." Unlike his earlier concerts, Beethoven made little money on this one, as the expenses of mounting it were significantly higher. It was Beethoven's last public concert.

Unlike Mozart, who was buried anonymously in a communal grave (such being the custom at the time), 20,000 Viennese citizens lined the streets for Beethoven's funeral on Thursday, 29 March 1827. Franz Schubert, who died the following year and was buried next to Beethoven, was one of the torchbearers. After a Requiem Mass at the church of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche), Beethoven was buried in the Währing cemetery, north-west of Vienna. His remains were exhumed for study in 1862, and moved in 1888 to Vienna's Zentralfriedhof. Friends and visitors before and after his death clipped locks of his hair, some of which have been preserved and subjected to additional analysis, as have skull fragments removed during the 1862 exhumation. Some of these analyses have led to controversial assertions that Beethoven was accidentally poisoned to death by excessive doses of lead-based treatments administered under instruction from his doctor.

Character

Beethoven's personal life was troubled by his encroaching deafness, which led him to contemplate suicide (documented in his Heiligenstadt Testament). Beethoven was often irascible and may have suffered from bipolar disorder and irritability brought on by chronic abdominal pain (beginning in his twenties) that has been attributed to possible lead poisoning. Nevertheless, he had a close and devoted circle of friends all his life, thought to have been attracted by his strength of personality. Toward the end of his life, Beethoven's friends competed in their efforts to help him cope with his incapacities.

Sources show Beethoven's disdain for authority, and for social rank. He stopped performing at the piano if the audience chatted amongst themselves, or afforded him less than their full attention. At soirées, he refused to perform if suddenly called upon to do so. Eventually, after many confrontations, the Archduke Rudolph decreed that the usual rules of court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven.

Music

Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music; occasionally he is referred to as one of the "three Bs" (along with Bach and Brahms) who epitomize that tradition. He was also a pivotal figure in the transition from the 18th century musical classicism to 19th century romanticism, and his influence on subsequent generations of composers was profound. The film is directed by Walter Kolm-Veltée, produced by Guido Bagier with Walter Kolm-Veltée and written by Walter Kolm-Veltée with Franz Tassié.

In 1962, Walt Disney produced a made-for-television and extremely fictionalized life of Beethoven titled The Magnificent Rebel. The film was given a two-part premiere on the Walt Disney anthology television series and released to theatres in Europe. It starred Karlheinz Böhm as Beethoven.

In 1994 a film about Beethoven (Gary Oldman) titled Immortal Beloved was written and directed by Bernard Rose. The story follows Beethoven's secretary and first biographer, Anton Schindler (portrayed by Jeroen Krabbé), as he attempts to ascertain the true identity of the Unsterbliche Geliebte (Immortal Beloved) addressed in three letters found in the late composer's private papers. Schindler journeys throughout the Austrian Empire, interviewing women who might be potential candidates, as well as through Beethoven's own tumultuous life. Filming took place in the Czech cities of Prague and Kromeriz and the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria, between 23 May and 29 July 1994.

In 2003 a BBC/Opus Arte film Eroica was released, with Ian Hart as Beethoven and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner performing the Eroica Symphony in its entirety. The subject of the film is the first performance of the Eroica Symphony in 1804 at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz (played by Jack Davenport). In a 2005 three-part BBC miniseries, Beethoven was played by Paul Rhys.

A movie titled Copying Beethoven was released in 2006, starring Ed Harris as Beethoven. This film was a fictionalized account of Beethoven's last days, and his struggle to produce his Ninth Symphony before he died.

Memorials

The Beethoven Monument, Bonn was unveiled in August 1845, in honour of his 75th anniversary. It was the first statue of a composer created in Germany, and the music festival that accompanied the unveiling was the impetus for the very hasty construction of the original Beethovenhalle in Bonn (it was designed and built within less than a month, on the urging of Franz Liszt). A statue to Mozart had been unveiled in Salzburg, Austria in 1842. Vienna did not honour Beethoven with a statue until 1880.

See also

Egmont

References

Sources

Sachs, Harvey, The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, London, Faber, 2010. ISBN 978-0-571-22145-5

Further reading

Albrecht, Theodore, and Elaine Schwensen, "More Than Just Peanuts: Evidence for December 16 as Beethoven's birthday." The Beethoven Newsletter 3 (1988): 49, 60–63.

Bohle, Bruce, and Robert Sabin. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. London: J.M.Dent & Sons LTD, 1975. ISBN 0-460-04235-1.

Davies, Peter J. The Character of a Genius: Beethoven in Perspective. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. ISBN 0-313-31913-8.

Davies, Peter J. Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31587-6.

DeNora, Tia. "Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792–1803." Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. ISBN 0-520-21158-8.

Geck, Martin. Beethoven. Translated by Anthea Bell. London: Haus, 2003. ISBN 1-904341-03-9 (h), ISBN 1-904341-00-4 (p).

Kornyei, Alexius. Beethoven in Martonvasar. Verlag, 1960. OCLC Number: 27056305

Kropfinger, Klaus. Beethoven. Verlage Bärenreiter/Metzler, 2001. ISBN 3-7618-1621-9.

Martin, Russell. Beethoven's Hair. New York: Broadway Books, 2000. ISBN 978-0-7679-0350-9

Morris, Edmund. Beethoven: The Universal Composer. New York: Atlas Books / HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-075974-7.

Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. (Expanded ed.) New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. ISBN 0-393-04020-8 (hc); ISBN 0-393-31712-9 (pb).

Solomon, Maynard. Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. ISBN 0-520-23746-3.

Thayer, A. W., rev and ed. Elliot Forbes. Thayer's Life of Beethoven. (2 vols.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09103-X

Sullivan, J. W. N., Beethoven: His Spiritual Development New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927

External links

Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Official website of Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany. Links to extensive studio and digital archive, library holdings, the Beethoven-Haus Museum (including "internet exhibitions" and "virtual visits"), the Beethoven-Archiv research center, and information on Beethoven publications of interest to the specialist and general reader. Extensive collection of Beethoven's compositions and written documents, with sound samples and a digital reconstruction of his last house in Vienna.

The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, The Beethoven Gateway (San José State University)

Digitized, scanned material (books, sheetmusic)

"Beethoven" Titles; Beethoven as author from archive.org

"Beethoven" Titles; Beethoven as author from books.google.com

Digital Archives from Beethoven-Haus Bonn

"Beethoven" titles from Gallica

Sheetmusic (scores)

Works by Beethoven Beethoven-Haus Bonn

"Beethoven" Titles from the Munich Digitisation Centre (MDZ)

"Beethoven" Titles from the University of Rochester

Free sheet music from Kreusch-sheet-music.net

Beethoven scores from Mutopia Project

Historical recordings

Beethoven - recordings with audio available;   Beethoven - recordings (incl. without avail. audio);   Information on sound files (CHARM)

Beethoven cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library

Recordings at archive.org

General reference

Mad About Beethoven by British television and radio announcer John Suchet

Beethoven: The Immortal. Introduction and detailed account of the composer's life. Articles include his deafness, demeanor, daily routine, medical history, final days, and letters.

Raptus Association for Music Appreciation site on Beethoven

All About Ludwig van Beethoven

Listings of live performances at Bachtrack

Specific topics

Beethoven's last apartment in Vienna, digitally reconstructed 2004, on Multimedia CD-ROM edited by Beethoven-Haus Bonn

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